prophecy – Page 56

frankenflies, jesus, key west, mutant mosquitoes, pestilence, prophecy

Unleash the Frankenflies!

Posted on December 8, 2012 by elizabethprata

Dengue Fever is back, and it is causing a fever among health officials. Outbreaks worldwide are increasing, and the Florida Keys are one of the places American officials are especially concerned about. World Health Organization (WHO) said in recent years it has become a major international public health concern. In 2010, Puerto Rico had the largest outbreak in history, reported health officials at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta.

“The first native cases of dengue fever in Florida in more than 70 years began appearing in Key West in 2009, and they’re becoming more common…It’s not clear why the mosquito has become more abundant, reported Time Magazine in 2011. 2010 was a watershed year, with 2009 having had 22 locally acquired cases and the next year that number leaped to 66.

As of 2010 dengue fever is believed to infect 50 to 100 million people worldwide a year with 1/2 million life threatening infections. It has dramatically increased in frequency between 1960 and 2010 by 30 fold.

Dengue is a fever brought by “the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, dengue infects an estimated 220 million people a year — 2 million of whom develop a severe form called dengue haemorrhagic fever, which has no known cure. And it can be extremely painful,” reported the Time Magazine article. Quoting NPR, Time’s article continued,

“Dengue is considered a serious public health threat in Key West, Hawaii, south Texas and other Florida counties where it has been reported. But compared with its resurgence in Latin America, the outbreak in Key West is relatively minor.”

It is serious nonetheless, because officials do not know why it is happening. “The state’s public health veterinarian said in 2010, “We do know that we used to have dengue in Florida,” … “Why we’re currently experiencing an outbreak, I can’t answer that question.”

The FL Department of Health web page today states, “The number of dengue cases in Florida travelers returning from the Caribbean, Central and South America is higher than normal. If you are traveling to a tropical or sub-tropical area, you can protect yourself from dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases by following the suggestions on our Prevention page, including using insect repellent. You can get more information about Traveler’s Health at http://www.cdc.gov/dengue/travelOutbreaks/index.html”

So both locally acquired cases and foreign returnee-cases are on the rise.

In order to combat this disease, Florida officials are about to, as the Russia Today article wittily states, “Unleash the Frankenflies.”

Hundreds of thousands of mutated mosquitoes could soon be unleashed in Florida, but don’t worry: scientists say they have a plan. It might sound like something out of a low-budget horror film, but the US Food and Drug Administration really is considering whether or not they should allow scientists to send thousands upon thousands of genetically altered insects into the wild. If all goes as planned, mosquitos modified by some serious Frankenstein treatment will be introduced into the Florida Keys and ideally mate with skeeters that carry the deadly dengue fever, passing along in the process a fatal birth defect that will hopefully eradicate the offspring before birth. From there, scientists say they expect the population of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes infected with the dangerous disease will be decimated in only a few generations without causing any major implications for the native ecosystem. “The science of it, I think, looks fine. It’s straight from setting up experiments and collecting data,” Michael Doyle of the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District tells the Associated Press.

This will not end well. Even the guy they interviewed seemed to be saying that on paper it should all work out. He thinks.

But we know that when you start monkeying around with the natural order of things, it doesn’t work out. God told Adam to name the animals, not remake the animals. (Genesis 2:19-20). When man accepted the fallen angels’ ways and human-angel mutations happened, God shut it down. (Genesis 6). When man tried to re-make his own little world, at the Tower of Babel, God shut it down. (Genesis 11).

I the late 1800s, kudzu was imported from Japan as a shade foliage, and now we call kudzu “the weed that ate the south.” When sugar-cane beetles began overrunning the cane fields in Australia, they brought in cane toads to eat them. Now Aussies have a much bigger problem on their hands.

“The much maligned venomous cane toads earned their bad reputation shortly after being released into the Australian ecology in 1935 with the hope that they would control the destructive cane beetle population. They turned out to be failures at controlling beetles, but remarkably successful at reproducing and spreading themselves. About 3,000 cane toads were released in the sugarcane plantations of north Queensland in 1935. They now number well into the millions, and their still expanding range covers thousands of square miles in northeastern Australia.” (source NatGeo).

So this unleashing of genetically modified mosquitos has me skeptical just on the basis of past failures.

In addition, look at the end of history as prophesied in God’s word. Luke 21:11 Jesus promised there will be pestilences at the end of days. Revelation 6:8 again states the same, and gives specifics: a fourth of the world will die by sword, famine, pestilence and beasts. Death by beasts could include animals losing the fear of man and stalking them in their own attempts to get food, or the prophecy could mean rats, fleas, ticks, mosquitos, and other dirty animals that traditionally have unleashed massive plagues on man.

Either way, the end time is a time when God is showing us through repeated warnings that He is in control. At some point the issues of today will increase beyond man’s ability to solve and control them. Science will fail. Governments will fail. God will strip away all man-made reliance on anything except upon HIM. It will be painful and it will mean death for many. Turn to Jesus now in reliance on His holy name and His good and great plan for your life. It is not painful, but blissful. Don’t wait. There are worse things coming for the unbeliever than mutant mosquitos, and there are wonderful things coming for the believer.

To become a believer you should repent of your sins, being sorry for these crimes against God, and pray to Jesus to forgive you. He was sent as the substitutionary sacrifice to pay God’s penalty for your sins, (the penalty is wrath) and God has accepted Jesus as the sacrifice, proving this by raising Him from the dead after three days. Jesus is in heaven now but He is coming back to judge the living and the dead. Believers will already be in heaven, safely dwelling in glorified bodies with Him. Sound good? It is! It is the GOOD NEWS of JESUS CHRIST!

paul, prophecy, timothy, ungodly

Paul’s warning to Timothy about church godlessness in the last days

Posted on December 3, 2012 by elizabethprata

Paul wrote to Timothy as a warning, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

This verse is meant to be understood that people in the church will be acting this way. If you can imagine people in the church acting that way, how much worse the general population will be. In the church they will be appearing to try and be godly, and fail. People outside the church won’t even be trying.

Of the second verse in the passage, Wesley’s Notes say,
“For men – Even in the church. Will be – In great numbers, and to an higher degree than ever. Lovers of themselves – Only, not their neighbours, the first root of evil. Lovers of money – The second.”

Barnes Notes explains,
“For men shall be lovers of their own selves – It shall be one of the characteristics of those times that men shall be eminently selfish – evidently under the garb of religion; 2 Timothy 3:5. The word here used – φίλαυτος philautos – does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. It means a lover of oneself, “selfish.” Such a love of self as to lead us to secure our salvation, is proper. But this interferes with the rights and happiness of no other persons. The selfishness which is condemned, is that regard to our own interests which interferes with the rights and comforts of others; which makes self the central and leading object of living; and which tramples on all that would interfere with that. As such, it is a base, and hateful, and narrow passion; but it has been so common in the world that no one can doubt the correctness of the prophecy of the apostle that it would exist “in the last times.”

Whoa. That is bad. The one place where there is supposed to be love…will be lacking of it in many places. Or at least, there will be a pale imitation and when push comes to shove, it will be revealed as ungodly love. I think that is the worse condition. To be faked out, I mean.

Here are some examples of selfish and ridiculous behavior in the general population that are a harbinger of what is coming to the church. As Barnes said, ‘been so common in the world that no one can doubt the correctness of the prophecy of the apostle that it would exist “in the last times”‘ in the church too. These news articles are from my local daily and local weekly. I live in a low crime area that is fairly rural. As soon as a few years ago I left my front door unlocked for the day. (Not anymore, things are always locked up tight.)

9-year-old moons bus driver, spits at police
“A 9-year-old girl mooned a school bus driver Friday afternoon and generally behaved so badly the driver had to pull over on the Outer Loop and call authorities, according to an Athens-Clarke police report. As an officer boarded the bus, he wrote he saw the girl trying to kick the driver. He convinced the girl to leave the bus with him, but once outside she tried to run away, the officer said. The officer managed to catch the girl before she got into the street and handcuffed her after she said she wished a vehicle had hit her. In the back of his patrol car, the officer said the girl repeatedly kicked the glass divider. He had to call for back up so someone could bring him a device to restrain her legs, according to the report.”

It goes on, the things the girl did. She attends a special alternative school for unruly children. The sad part is that she had to be handcuffed because she almost ran into traffic, and when the policeman was cuffing her she said she wished a car had hit her. It is so sad that children are so broken so young, that they defy educational authorities and even civil authorities like police officers. At age 9?! Decades ago, can you imagine the culture would have devolved so quickly to so taint the tender youngsters?

Even the older youth don’t know any better. See this story about a spate of police calls for youths n buses being transported home from the Middle School and High School in my county. And this next article, is simply outrageous.

Drunk UGA student urinates on shelves in Athens store
“A drunken University of Georgia student damaged merchandise valued at hundreds of dollars when he urinated inside a downtown Athens convenience store early Friday morning, Athens-Clarke police said. Austin James Smith, 23, of Lawrenceville, relieved himself in an aisle at Lay-Z-Shopper on East Clayton Street shortly before 2:30 a.m., damaging $200 worth of snacks and $100 worth of household items, according to police.”

Gross, gross, gross. What, was he raised in a barn?

This next one happened a few miles up the road from me. Scary.

Hull residents alarmed at finding severed dog heads on front porch
Four days have passed and no more severed dog heads have been left on the front porch where Zachary Osburn lives in Hull. For two days straight — Nov. 23-24 — the heads of dogs were found on the steps leading to the home where Osburn, his sister, and girlfriend all live on Old Elberton Road. Osburn called the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, which sent a deputy to investigate the bizarre matter, but the motive for someone leaving the heads, or even how the dogs died, is a mystery. … “My sister didn’t even go to work the first night because she was so shook up about it,” he said, explaining that his sister refused to take a close look at the head.”

I’d be shook up, too. It seems demonic, like something people do in satanic cults like voodoo, or in the ancient days of bloody pagan practices.

I am sure that examples abound of people doing strange things like these in your area too. But the interesting thing is that the Paul wrote that men will be selfish, brutal, slanderous, uncontrolled… etc., in church! The heightening of bizarre behavior outside the church seems to me to be a dark stain that is slowly encroaching into the last sanctuary- the local worship place. When it starts seeping in in greater force, I wonder what that would look like? Would it look like the above, youths showing up drunk to worship and urinating on the couch? With youngsters so out of control in AWANA that the police have to be called?

I know one thing Paul’s prophecy looks like, is spiritual abuse. I’ve written about that before, several times. Spiritual abuse is performed by men who seem godly, adopting a form of it but denying its power. At root, abusive pastors, leaders, deacons, teachers etc are selfish, because they deny God’s power so they can exalt their own power. Spiritual abuse is brutal.

I’d imagine that being slandered in church is a terrible blow to a Christian, too. We open ourselves up to trust levels we don’t even do in families or workplaces. When our character is impugned by someone who had purported to love the truth, it is a severe blow. Paul knew this. In 1 Corinthians 10 he spends a good deal of time defending his ministry. After Paul founded it, he left the Corinthian church to check on his other churches. Immediately, false teachers swooped in and through small lies and big ones, not only succeeded in making the Corinthians doubt Paul’s teaching, but their doubt extended to impact against the spread of the Gospel. When a person’s character is doubted it destroys their teaching. Maybe it was those fake-godly men he was remembering when he warned Timothy about future encroachments of other ones inside the church.

Note how Paul ended the first set of verses at verse 5: “Avoid such people.”

We are not just to intellectually note that such people exist in the church. We are not simply to mark when it happens. We are to DO something about it. We are to avoid them.

Referring to the verse in Corinthians, Phil Johnson preached about spiritual warfare, saying, “A lot of times spiritual warfare calls us to engage with people who look like, and pass themselves off as, ministers of righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 11:15).

Again, I wonder how this will play out in real life. This command to “avoid such people” is a difficult thing. I mean, if you notice a deacon in your church, or a teacher or leader who is displaying one of the characteristics above, as a pattern of behavior that impacts the peacefulness of the church or the witness of the Gospel (not as a one-time error- please don’t jump to conclusions), how do we avoid them?

Do I alert the media? Change my pew? Get off the committee? Quit Sunday School? It is a difficult thing. I suppose of someone was caught stealing the tithes or molesting the children it would be clear that avoidance would be the least of the actions taken. But if they were slandering? Being ungrateful? Unappeasable? Taking Paul’s recommended action seems to me to be trickier to enact. But we must. It is prophesied to happen and the recourse is a command, not a suggestion.

I don’t have the answer yet, but I am sure that with further study and prayer the Holy Spirit will illuminate my mind. He is great to help bring the bible to life and its precepts to action. But I’m not looking forward to the day when the behavior such as Paul listed above comes into the church. But I wanted us to be aware of its prophetic imminence and to start praying how to keep loving even when people who faked us out for many years turn out to be brutal, slanderous, selfish etc toward us. Be ready. And part of being ready means being strong in our faith because when it happens to you, it will make you want to lie down and quit. We have to strengthen our armor now.

The great opportunity we have is that when the ungodly ones are revealed in our lives and our worship, our witness can be even brighter for Jesus, pointing to Him as the way and the truth and the life. Darkness is prophesied to steal into the pew, the pulpit, the classroom, but we are forewarned. We will be ready, we will be peaceful, loving, and bright with His glory, having prayed for strength and love to ride the waves of the coming church brutality and selfishness.

Our home is in heaven, and soon, we will never have to guard ourselves again. We will never have to gird ourselves with weapons. We can just…be. Cling to this thought, wonderful people:

“Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20)

jesus, jews, nazi, prophecy

Hungarian politician’s call for a "Jew-list" sparks protests

Posted on December 3, 2012 by elizabethprata

Thousands of Hungarians protest against compiling lists of Jews posing ‘security risk’
Over 10,000 have come out to an anti-Nazi rally in Budapest to demonstrate against a proposal of a far-right leader to draft lists of Hungarian Jews who may represent a “security risk”. The government and opposition parties both joined the protest.
It all started when Marton Gyongyosi of the of the Hungarian Movement for a Better Hungary (Jobbik), the country’s largest far-right party, stated that it was time to determine “how many people of Jewish origin there are here, especially in the Hungarian parliament and the Hungarian government, who represent a certain national security risk.”
Gyongyosi argued that this was needed because of the tensions after an eight-day attack on Gaza. He also said that Hungary’s Foreign Ministry had “rushed to make an oath of allegiance to Israel.”
After the statement, Gyongyosi issued an apology, but still reaffirmed that Hungary needs to be cautious of “Zionist Israel and those serving it also from here.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hatred that satan has fomented in them, the LORD will push forward to its inevitable conclusion. Just as Pharaoh was given an opportunity to let the Israelites go, his heart hardened and he refused. As 1 Samuel 6:6 says, “Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, did they not send the people away, and they departed?”

Matthew Henry says of the Samuel verse, “Sinners lengthen out their own miseries by refusing to part with their sins.” At a point God deems perfect, He ends the argument and decides for them, rendering the judgment He sees they need. Sometimes this includes pushing forward what is already in their hearts to a conclusion. The entire Tribulation will be a time when humanity’s God-hating, sin-loving choices will be brought forward to fill the cup of wrath to the top. After Revelation 13, humanity’s choices will displayed in black and white, (take the Mark of the Beast, or not), their hearts will be set like concrete, and there will be no going back.

Some examples of how God pushes forward what is already in their hearts can be found in Isaiah 19:14-
“The Lord has poured into them a spirit of dizziness; they make Egypt stagger in all that she does, as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.”

And Ezekiel 38:21,
“I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Lord GOD. Every man’s sword will be against his brother.”

And Zechariah 12:2a,
“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling.”

It seems that the protests in Hungary fit the prophecy above. Once again, Jerusalem makes the surrounding peoples reel, as in this headline too, when Palestinian Authority’s Abbas said that their flag will wave in East Jerusalem.

The hatred of Jews we see rising so fast is not a personal one. It is all a spiritual battle. Always remember, “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

Now is the time to remember that Ephesians verse each and every day.

The Hungarian politician did not ask for the “Jew-list” because he suddenly decided to become suspicious of Jews, it was satan’s influence which put that on his heart. The protests by the Hungarians were not against the politician who had asked for the “Jew-list” but were organized by Jewish and civic groups

The leader of one of the political parties in Hungary who participated in the protest said, “He added that “genocide is always preceded by lists,” arguing that it was unacceptable that “people should fail to learn the lessons of the past 100 years.”

It is unacceptable. But they will still fail to learn, because satan will continue to foment hatred of God’s people. And the lists, I imagine that in the Tribulation the lists will be voluminous. Who can buy or sell, who is a Christian or a Jew…

God is long-suffering. “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,” (Exodus 34:6)

But He has appointed a Day when His wrath will take over from His long-suffering. When we read of events like that protest in Hungary and the increasing call for rounding up the Jews, we can practically see the evil spirit being poured out by satan. God’s plan is advancing and that means our prayers should become more fervent too.

“My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” (Psalms 5:3)

damascus, isaiah 17, prophecy

Isaiah 17:1 fulfillment coming near?

Posted on December 2, 2012 by elizabethprata

This is worrisome… Israel National News reports,

Report: New Activity at Syrian Chemical Weapon Sites
There are signs of new activity at Syrian chemical weapons sites, Western intelligence officials said, according to The New York Times.

“There are signs of new activity at Syrian chemical weapons sites, Western intelligence officials said, according to The New York Times. The report, published Saturday, quoted a U.S. intelligence official as saying the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is “doing some things that suggest they intend to use the weapons. “It’s not just moving stuff around,” he explained. “These are a different kind of activities.”

“It is possible Syrian Army forces are preparing to use the weapons in a last-ditch effort to save the government, officials told the paper. However, it is also possible they are simply warning to Western nations about the implications of providing assistance to rebel forces, they added.”

“Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he will not allow an existential risk to the Jewish State. This past summer, Netanyahu said during an interview on the U.S.-based television program “Fox News Sunday” that it is essential to prevent Syrian weapons from falling into the wrong hands.”

“One major concern is the possibility that part of the Syrian arsenal may be transferred to Lebanon. “Could you imagine Hizbullah – the people are conducting with Iran all these terror attacks around the world – could you imagine them having chemical weapons?” he asked the interviewer.”

“It would be like Al Qaeda having chemical weapons,” he continued. “It’s something that is not acceptable to us, not acceptable to the United States and to any peaceable country in the world. “So I think that this is something we’ll have to act to stop if the need arises,” he said. “And the need might arise if there’s a regime collapse, but not a regime change.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little-known fact is that Syria’s chemical and bio-weapons are highly sophisticated. Dr. Jill Dekker is a consultant to the NATO Defense Establishment in bio-warfare and counter terrorism. Dr. Dekker is also a member of the board of advisers of the Intelligence Summit. She gave an interview to the New English Review in December 2007. I wrote about that in 2010, here. In Dr. Dekker’s interview, she said,

“In 2007 Syria promised bio-weapon retaliation against Israel should Israel strike Iran. In the New English Review, consultant to the NATO Defense Establishment in bio-warfare and counter terrorism expert Dr. Jill Dekker said that “Contrary to how the US State Department and other agencies tend to downplay the sophistication of the Syrian biological and nuclear programs, they are very advanced. Syria has always had the most advanced chemical weapons program in the Middle East.” At that time, Dr. Dekker said that Syria had shifted in their philosophy of using bio-weapons from special weapons to conventional arsenal, and they have the will to do it. Why? Realizing they have no practical opportunity to reach parity with Israel or the US on conventional weapons, they decided to pursue bio-weaponry and were at that time fixing conventional missiles with a highly virulent anthrax germ with the help of Russian scientists. Ominously for the world, the US nor the UN were particularly reactive to the Syrians’ re-definition of bio-weaponry as conventional and offensive. Ominously for prophecy, the Syrians run their biological programs out of the Syrian Scientific Research Council (SSRC) in Damascus.”

“Isaiah 17:1 states that Damascus will be destroyed. It will be a heap of ruins and will cease from being a city. That prophecy has not been fulfilled yet because Damascus, being the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, has never been abandoned nor destroyed.”

The prophecy does not state how Damascus will be destroyed. The prophecy only says it will be razed to the ground. It doesn’t say who destroys Damascus. It could happen by nuke accidentally unleashed by terrorists, by God’s direct hand, by Israel, or by some other nation, (Turkey??) or in a way we can’t foresee. However it happens, it happens fast. (Isaiah 17:14).

Please keep the Syrians in your prayers. They have a devastating and bitter road ahead. God loves them, too. So many are rebelling against Him, judgment will come. Damascus is a city of 2 million, with an additional 2 million in suburbs. They will all die. And with chemical weapons being moved about, the ongoing revolution in Damascus, and the prophesied wars and rumors of wars everywhere, as stated in Matthew 24, life is hard and mean, getting worse by the day. Their death will be eternal and agonizing. Have compassion for the deluded Muslims who live there and beg God for mercy on their souls.

observer state, palestine, prophecy, un, United Nations

Palestine given ‘observer state’ status in UN vote

Posted on November 30, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

U.N. General Assembly votes to recognize the state of Palestine

“The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the Palestinians but an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States. The resolution upgrading the Palestinians’ status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations was approved by a more than two-thirds majority of the 193-member world body — a vote of 138-9, with 41 abstentions. A Palestinian flag was quickly unfurled on the floor of the General Assembly, behind the Palestinian delegation. Real independence, however, remains an elusive dream until the Palestinians negotiate a peace deal with the Israelis, who warned that the General Assembly action will only delay a lasting solution. Israel still controls the West Bank, east Jerusalem and access to Gaza, and it accused the Palestinians of bypassing negotiations with the campaign to upgrade their U.N. status.”

Ironically, today’s vote vote recognizes a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. This represents far less territory than the Palestinians were offered on Nov. 29, 1947, when the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 181.

In today’s vote, Canada, the US, & Israel opposed the measure. France and Spain voted for it. Germany, among others, abstained. The UK & Australia abstained too. This is significant as both the UK and Australia have traditionally stood with the U.S. and Canada when it comes to Israel. But no more.

A Palestinian flag is displayed after a United Nations vote recognizing
Palestine as a state on Thursday in New York. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Now here’s a headline right out of the bible:

With Palestinians near certain to win UN recognition, Israel increasingly isolated

Zechariah 12:1-3
“The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.”

The verse is speaking of the Day of the Lord (Tribulation) and the battle of Armageddon. But you can see the progression- Israel is increasingly a concern for the world. One by one, that tiny nation is becoming friendless. Look at this headline-

Germany backtracks on Palestinian bid; Israeli official: ‘We lost Europe’

This increase in hatred and tightening of Israel’s isolation is causing that nation to further entrench herself and rely on her own resources. This condition will only delude her into thinking she can handle things on here own This downward cycle will continue as Damascus is destroyed, presenting no further enemy threat to Israel, and Israel’s success in the Psalm 83 battle. See Israel’s mindset here-

PM: Ignore the Sound of UN Applause
“I suggest that we not be impressed with the applause at the General Assembly. It doesn’t matter how many hands are raised against us, we have no intention of compromising on Israel’s security.”

A few people see how this thing is going-

‘European Jews, it’s time to wake up’
The time has come for European Jews to pull their heads out of the sand, face reality and ask themselves honestly whether there can be any meaningful prospects for their children to remain proud Jews in societies which have reverted to treating them as pariahs. Less than 70 years ago the soil of Europe was drenched in Jewish blood. Orchestrated by Germany, considered the most cultured country in Europe, six million Jews were brutally murdered in a meticulously planned genocidal campaign. The vast majority of Germans and citizens of Nazi-occupied territories either collaborated or closed their eyes as millions of their Jewish neighbors were deported and systematically exterminated. After that terrible era the call went out: “Never Again.” Yet just a few decades later, the evil winds of visceral anti-Semitism are again raging throughout Europe with the addition of the nation state of the Jews acting as surrogate to the conventional demonization of individual Jews…”

Sadly, the Palestinians continue to be led by misguided Jew-hating, Allah-loving leaders, and the nation of Israel is far from God, for all their talk of a Temple. That’s more tradition and culture and a claim to the land than is it from a heart-position of loving God.

Things are continuing to hurtle in the direction God wants this to go. It will only end at Armageddon when all nations are gathered against Israel and ready to fight Jesus. Jesus will return and put an immediate stop to it all.

Revelation 19:11-18
Isaiah 63:1-6
Zechariah 14:1-6

For more information about reaction to today’s vote at the UN, Joel Rosenberg has a detailed article outlining the bible’s stance on the Palestinians and future prophecies about it–

“The Palestinians could have been celebrating the 65th anniversary of their state today. What happened?”

europe central bank, iran, nuclear, palestinian state, prophecy, third temple

Palestinian statehood vote set, one European bank, Iran nukes and more

Posted on November 28, 2012 by elizabethprata

I flabbergasted at the number of news articles that have direct prophetic implications. I really am. Look at these:

ECB lawyers say yes to single banking system
“European Central Bank lawyers have today said that a single bank supervisory system can be set up without changes to European Union treaties. Some countries, notably Germany and Sweden, have questioned whether EU law allows the ECB to take up supervisory tasks and whether there would be a conflict with its monetary policy role. European Central Bank lawyers have today said that a single bank supervisory system can be set up without changes to European Union treaties.-The leaders of EU member states agreed at their summit on 28-29 June that the ECB should supervise all of the eurozone’s 6,000 banks and urged the European Parliament and Council of Ministers to fast-track the necessary legislation so that the new system could start being implemented on 1 January.”

So they laid the infrastructure for a one-Europe banking system to begin in a few weeks. Now all they need is someone to oversee it. Oops, that is the next story!

ECB Lays Out Timetable for Single Euro-Area Bank Supervision
“European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi told a banking conference on Friday the creation of a single supervisor was essential to creating a fiscal union and breaking the negative relationship between government indebtedness and wobbly banks that has been dragging down the European economy. “The single supervisory mechanism should also strengthen the European market,” Draghi said, adding that all EU member states, even those outside the euro zone should be able to participate.”

We know by the time Revelation 13 comes into fulfillment that the antichrist will have solidified his hold on the world to the point where his proposal to institute a mark on each person’s forehead or hand in order to participate in the economy will take place.

The Tribulation is only 7 years long (Daniel 9:27). A lot happens in that time period. The Tribulation will not be a time to set things up, but a time for immediate fulfillment. The setting up is taking place now. When the rapture happens then the other plans the Lord has for all those left behind will be ready to come to fulfillment quickly. It is like the electrician laying the wires and making the connections and all it needs to the Master electrician to flip the switch the get the electricity running.

So this news of a one-banking system in the very area the antichrist is prophesied to emerge from is very, very interesting. And the plans for a one-banking supervisor to oversee it all is even more interesting.

————————

Iran: Nuclear enrichment advances with “intensity”
Iran will step up its uranium enrichment program by sharply increasing the number of centrifuges used to make nuclear fuel, a senior official said Wednesday, in direct defiance of Western demands. The statement by Iran’s nuclear chief, Fereidoun Abbasi, is likely to escalate tensions. The West suspects Iran’s nuclear program could be headed toward weapons production and has imposed punishing sanctions to try to persuade Tehran to stop enrichment.”

Iran’s entire leadership, from Ayatollah Khameini and other ayatollahs, to the Revolutionary Guard, to Ahmadinejad, intend with every fiber of their being to wipe Israel from the face of the earth. This is their highest religious duty. The want to erase the Jew from the world and in so doing cause a religious jihad that will bring chaos. This allegedly proves to Muhammad that they are serious about their faith, and it prepares the way for him to ‘return’ to earth and conclude the job of ridding the world of Jews and Christians and any other non-Muslim. The peace process and economic sanctions fail with them because they do not want peace.

Jesus said immediately prior to His coming there will be wars and rumors of wars. (Matthew 24:6). Revelation 6:3-4 shows the second seal being opened and when it is peace is taken from the earth. War is coming.

I don’t want to be alarmist. But the bible says what it says. I want to bring two verses to your attention and let you study and pray and see what they may mean. The first is Zechariah 14:12–

“And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.”

This is something that happens when people stand at ground zero under a thermonuclear bomb.

Second verse is Ezekiel 39:14-16,

“They will set apart men to travel through the land regularly and bury those travelers remaining on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make their search. 15And when these travel through the land and anyone sees a human bone, then he shall set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. 16(Hamonah is also the name of the city.) Thus shall they cleanse the land.”

Hamonah means multitude. This is the process people use in biohazard cleanup situations. The verse is referring to the conclusion of the Gog Magog war, in which Iran participates, a war that occurs when Israel is unsuspecting and at peace. God uses this war to bring Israel back to Him.

Iran will continue on their path of destruction via nuclear war.

——————–
Politics is active in Israel. With the call by Netanyahu for early elections, the pre-election primaries are running. Hardliners and conservatives are winning spots on the Knesset, particularly one guy who is hot for the Third Temple.

Building the third temple
This is just the beginning,’ says Feiglin. ‘Eventually, we will build the temple and fulfill our purpose in this land’; veteran Begin could lose his seat, Meridor almost certainly will
“Members of the governing Likud party on Monday selected a strongly right-wing slate of candidates for the January 22 Knesset elections, elevating hardliners and relegating moderates.”

Any temple talk, and I mean any, riles the Muslims. The Jews are not allowed to stop walking, to rock, to bow, to carry religious items, to sing, or to chant, if they are even allowed on the Temple Mount. Violations of these rules are immediately and harshly dealt with. So the elevation of a hardliner to the Knesset who is talking of reclaiming the Temple Mount – Al Aqsa to the Muslims – has gotten the Muslims’ attention, big time. Rhe following is their response to Feiglin’s promise for a Third Temple-

Muslims Claim Netanyahu Plans to Build ‘False’ Holy Temple
Netanyahu’s latest building plan for Jerusalem is none other than for the Third Temple, claims Al Aqsa Foundation.
“Al Aqsa officials warn that the “new Likud” is planning to build a “false” Third Holy Temple and divide the Muslim compound. Muslim paranoia of Jews on the Temple Mount had reached panic stages even before this week’s Likud primaries that placed Jewish Leadership faction leader Moshe Feiglin in a ranking that assures his election to the Knesset in January. Arab world media constantly report of Jewish “invasions” of the Temple Mount every time Jews try to ascend the holy site. Israeli authorities enforce the Muslim Waqf policy that forbids Jews to pray there or carry prayer books or other holy articles with them. Worst of all, the Foundation claims that the election results show that Prime Minister Netanyahu soon will announce plans for building the Third Temple, which it describes as “false,” in line with increasingly popular Muslim ideology that the First and Second Temples never existed.”

At the mid point of the Tribulation, the sacrifices at the Temple will be stopped by the antichrist. Stopping them means they must have started at some point. When God is successful in bringing the Jews back to Himself at the conclusion of the Gog Magog war, (Ez 38-39) it is assumed that the peace treaty which comes after that war (

or another war, anyway) will include a provision for the Jews to re-build their temple. Daniel 9:27 says so. (also Matthew 24:15).

The talk of conservative Jews, Third Temples, skirmishes at the Mount….all feed into Daniel 9’s prophecy.

——————–
Palestinians Predict Historic UN Vote on Statehood
“The Palestinians predicted a historic U.N. vote recognizing their statehood this week, praising important new support from France on Tuesday and likely backing from other European nations seen as critical to enhancing their international standing. … The General Assembly vote to raise the Palestinians’ status from a U.N. observer to a nonmember observer state is scheduled for Thursday … Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly and the resolution is virtually certain of approval. The 193-member world body is dominated by countries sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and the resolution only requires a majority vote for approval. The U.N. recognition of their statehood would elevate the Palestinians to the same status as the Vatican, another nonmember observer state. … The U.N. recognition, however, would add weight Palestinian claims for a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem…”

I wonder how the US will vote. Whether it will be an abstention or a no…or a yes. Joel 3:2 has bearing here–

For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land.”

Joel Rosenberg said of this prophecy,

“International pressure on Israel to carve up the Holy Land like a Thanksgiving turkey continues to build … Nearly every world leader — and certainly every American president since the Six Day War — has demanded Israel give up significant amounts of territory within Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights in order to create a sovereign Palestinian state and make peace with Syria, but never this much territory [as the] Obama plan would… “Historically, we know that the nations have repeated divided the Land of Israel. Prophetically, we know they will continue to do so until the Day of the Lord comes.”

Woe be unto them. Rosenberg said of the Palestinian State vote:

“On Thursday, the Palestinian leadership will ask the United Nations General Assembly to vote on a resolution that will give them enhanced international legal status, not quite a full sovereign state, but very close. The resolution is expected to pass decisively. France, Russia, China and most nations of the world have indicated they will vote “yes” on the resolution. That’s right, the world is poised to say yes to a sovereign Palestinian state despite the fact that Palestinians in Gaza just committed more than 3,000 war crimes last week.”

“–The Bible doesn’t speak precisely to the issue of whether a sovereign Palestinian state will be created or not.
“–That said, I tend to believe the geopolitical and prophetic evidence suggests there will probably be a Palestinian state in the not-too-distant future.
“–International pressure on Israel to cut a deal, divide the Land, and create a Palestinian state is overwhelming, relentless, and intensifying.
“–However, the Bible strongly warns the nations not to divide the Land of Israel and states that all nations who do so will face God’s judgment.”
“–Let us continue to pray for the Prince of Peace — Jesus the Messiah — to draw more and more people in the epicenter to Himself. This is the only true and lasting hope for peace.”

Israel successfully tests ‘David’s Sling’, another missile deterrent system

Posted on November 26, 2012 by elizabethprata

Israel demonstrated about an ~~83%~~ 90% success in stopping rockets that were launched at them in the week-long Gaza battle named Pillar of Cloud. This success was due to a new technology, a missile deterrent system they named Iron Dome. It stopped many of the rockets launched by Hamas from the southern part of Israel in the Gaza Strip.

But Israel still has the northern enemy to worry about- Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a terrorist group, a Shi’a Islamic militant group and political party based in Lebanon. It receives financial and political support from Iran and Syria, and its paramilitary wing is regarded as a resistance movement throughout much of the Arab and Muslim worlds. The Western world calls it a terrorist group.

Well, Israel is one of the most sophisticated and advanced military nations in the world. They are alone in the middle of a hostile sea of angry Muslims. So they made a missile deterrent system called David’s Sling.

New air defense system shoots down missile in first test
David’s Sling weapon system, with range of 70-200 kilometers, complements Iron Dome and will provide shield against Hezbollah’s arsenal
… “The Iron Dome system became the darling of Israel last week as it shot down hundreds of rockets, often in quick succession, during the country’s eight-day engagement with the Gaza Strip. The David’s Sling system, designed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Raytheon, is to be capable of taking down missiles with warheads of up to half a ton.”

These technological and military advances will aid Israel to be successful in the upcoming wars and battles which will likely take place in rapid succession. After each sin, Israel will gain land … and confidence. However, The Holy God is Israel is and always will be her protector and there will come a point at which Israel’s confidence in herself as a stand-alone nation will be misplaced. The Gog Magog war of Ezekiel 38-39 will show her that. After one of these wars, Israel will feel secure enough to let down her guard, and then BOOM, she gets slammed as Ezekiel prophesies. He wrote-

“Thus says the Lord God: On that day, thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme 11and say, ‘I will go up against the land of unwalled villages. I will fall upon the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gates,’ to seize spoil and carry off plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell at the center of the earth.” (Ezekiel 38:11-13).

This will be the Gog Magog war. It will consist of Russia, Turkey, Armenia, Iran, Libya, Sudan, etc surprise attacking Israel. Something had to have happened to make Israel feel like she could dwell securely and take down her famous security walls. Scholars believe that will be because she has been successful in the Psalm 83 battle, Isaiah 17 and 19 have been fulfilled, and she signed the covenant with the antichrist and others (“And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week” Daniel 9:27a) and begun her sacrifices in the Temple, that she is relaxed. When the enemy comes like a cloud, she is completely taken by surprise when these further-away neighbors attack her. God supernaturally protects Israel by earthquake and pestilence and brimstone and rain and hail.

It will be a dramatic moment in the history of humankind. God will part the veil between this dimension and His, and He will personally protect Israel. And everyone on earth will KNOW it will have been Him. Read Ezekiel 38 and 39, they are short but very clear. God says at least five times,

“And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.” (Ezekiel 39:7b)

So it is with some amount of conflict inside my spirit when at the one hand I applaud Israel for being so technologically advanced that she would set about protecting herself from her enemies so well while at the same time mourn that she does not rely or even acknowledge on the Holy God who has never left her.

But God’s glory is that she will. Oh, she will.

“The Lord Will Restore Israel”

“Therefore thus says the Lord God: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they dwell securely in their land with none to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemies’ lands, and through them have vindicated my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them into exile among the nations and then assembled them into their own land. I will leave none of them remaining among the nations anymore. And I will not hide my face anymore from them, when I pour out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”” (Ezekiel 39:25-29)

israel, prophecy, zechariah

The Spectator: Israel Under Siege, Zechariah 12 coming to life

Posted on November 24, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

This is an excellent summation of the new geo-political situation in the Middle East regarding Israel and its neighbors. It is easy to read and detailed. Read it with Zechariah in your mind as a backdrop to provide prophetic context.

“The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: 2“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. 3On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. 4On that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’ “

“6“On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.”

7“And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8On that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, going before them. 9And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 12:1-9)

The Spectator: Israel Under Siege: The Jewish state faces an ever-increasing threat from Islamist neighbours

“When Israel last entered Gaza, in Operation Cast Lead three years ago, the Arab World was stuck in the stasis it had been in for a century. Since their last defeat against Israel in 1973, the dictators had stuck to their old borders. Unpleasant, certainly, but not eager for conflict or any other variety of change. Their stance may have included populist denunciations of Israel, but they rarely took any genuine interest in the subject, any more than they took any interest in the welfare of their own people. But Israel’s new neighbours are more than racketeers: they are ideologues…”

“It is obvious why this matters to Israel. The country is surrounded. All its efforts at normalisation in the region have come to nothing. To the north, Lebanon remains dominated by Iran’s proxies of Hezbollah. Egypt and Gaza are under the control of the Brotherhood. Syria is a redoubtable enemy and ally of Iran. But when the opposition have toppled Assad, they will be just as hostile and almost certainly head in the same Islamist direction. In recent days even the majority Palestinian Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has begun to look vulnerable. The situation is now so unstable that the King has had to cancel his visit to Britain after thousands have come out on to the Jordanian streets demanding his downfall.”

In my opinion, Turkey and Jordan are the next nations to watch. I’ve written about Jordan recently, and Turkey is admirably covered in The Spectator’s article.

Please continue to pray to the Holy Spirit for wisdom and understanding of the times. Pray that those with an unregenerate heart would respond to the touch of the Lord and that He would give them salvation. Pray for Christians and missionaries in this region. Whatever you feel led to pray for, please continue praying. Prayer is powerful. See John Piper’s exposition of the Revelation verse about prayer in his sermon “The Prayers of the Saints and the End of the World“!

Revelation 8:1–5

“And when he broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God; and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

John Piper– Prayer and the Consummation of History

The utterly astonishing thing about this text is that it portrays the prayers of the saints as the instrument God uses to usher in the end of the world with great divine judgments. It pictures the prayers of the saints accumulating on the altar before the throne of God until the appointed time when they are taken up like fire from the altar and thrown upon the earth to bring about the consummation of God’s kingdom.

In other words, what we have in this text is an explanation of what has happened to the millions upon millions of prayers over the last 2,000 years as the saints have cried out again and again, “Thy kingdom come . . . Thy kingdom come.” Not one of these prayers, prayed in faith, has been ignored. Not one is lost or forgotten. Not one has been ineffectual or pointless. They have all been gathering on the altar before the throne of God.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6)

cease fire, egypt, israel, mursi, pillar of cloud, pillar of defense, prophecy, truce

UPDATED-So what was the prophetic meaning of the Gaza-Israel operation ‘Pillar of Cloud’? Isaiah 19:4 comes to mind

Posted on November 23, 2012 by elizabethprata

UPDATE
A news story just out purports that the actual reason for the Gaza offensive was to train Israeli troops for a battle with Iran. There is always much more going on politically and prophetically than we can see.

Officials: Israel’s Gaza Offensive Was Training For A Possible Fight With Iran
“Israel’s eight-day Gaza offensive was a dry run for any future armed confrontation with Iran, U.S. and Israeli officials told The New York Times. “In Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel was not confronting Gaza, but Iran,” Israeli ambassador to the U.S. States and military historian Michael B. Oren told the Times.”

The news that Egypt’s President Mursi has grabbed powers is making more and more headlines now. I had posted it 2/3 of the way down a bit earlier today. By now more and more they are calling him Pharaoh. Remember the Isaiah 19:4 prophecy that Egypt will be delivered to a cruel master. Here is a news update with the prophecy below that.

Reuters: “Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi’s decree exempting all his decisions from legal challenge until a new parliament was elected caused fury amongst his opponents on Friday who accused him of being the new Hosni Mubarak and hijacking the revolution.”

Al-Arabiya: “With Mursi’s absolute powers, will Egypt be corrupted absolutely? Words and expressions such as pharaoh, god, despot and assassin of democracy filled Egyptian media coverage on Friday to brand President Mohammed Mursi following his sudden snatch of sweeping powers.”

Isaiah 19:4: and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

~~~~~~~~~~
I don’t know what the prophetic implication is. But God never does anything that doesn’t accomplish His ultimate purpose- to bring Himself glory and to bring an end to sin. As we hurtle toward the ultimate end of the end, past the end of Armageddon and past the Millennial kingdom, we can rest assured that the operation Pillar of Cloud was at root a spiritual battle that accomplished something God wanted to accomplish.

What we can see so far in this short term are several things.

1. Egypt

“President Mohammed Mursi (Morsi) became president after the Arab Spring revolution when previous president Hosni Mubarak was ousted. Morsi is part of the Muslim Brotherhood group. Morsi was a Member of Parliament in the People’s Assembly of Egypt from 2000 to 2005 and a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood. He became Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) when it was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in the wake of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. He stood as the FJP’s candidate for the May–June 2012 presidential election.”

“The Brotherhood’s stated goal is to instill the Qur’an and Sunnah as the “sole reference point for …ordering the life of the Muslim family, individual, community … and state”. The Brotherhood’s credo was and is, “Allah is our objective; the Quran is our law, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.”

The Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for Egypt’s 2012 presidential election was Mohamed Morsi. The Egyptian cleric Safwat Higazi spoke at the announcement rally for the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate Morsi and expressed his hope and belief that Morsi would liberate Gaza, restore the Caliphate of the “United States of the Arabs” with Jerusalem as its capital, and that “our cry shall be: ‘Millions of martyrs march towards Jerusalem.'” [sources, Wikipedia]

I think only a few people recognized the irony that Egyptian President Morsi was the chief negotiator between Hamas in Gaza and Israel. So effectively it was the Muslim Brotherhood negotiating on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslims had high hopes for an obliteration of Jerusalem and the pushing forward of the above stated goals.

When Morsi negotiated a peaceful cease fire with Israel, the People of Egypt became enraged. Thereupon, Morsi granted himself sweeping new powers, effectively becoming a new Mubarak. Thereupon, the people are protesting. Here are some links to that news:

Egyptian President assumes sweeping powers, dubbed new pharaoh
“Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has assumed sweeping powers, drawing flak that he is acting like a “new pharaoh” and is endangering the gains of the popular uprising which ousted Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorial regime. Mursi made the constitutional declaration yesterday that granted him far-reaching powers and also ordered retrials of officials involved in the killing of protesters during the 2011 mass uprising against the Mubarak regime. The decision came a day after the President was praised by world leaders for brokering a truce between Hamas and Israel. Yesterday’s constitutional declaration has sparked a fierce debate in the country, with supporters calling it “revolutionary” and detractors slamming the sweeping powers it grants Egypt’s presidency as a “coup”.

Egypt braces for mass rallies after Mursi grabs sweeping powers

Protesters throw stones towards riot police during clashes after a rally to mark the one-year anniversary of fatal clashes at Mohamed Mahmoud street, in the vicinity of the Interior Ministry, in Cairo November 22, 2012. (Reuters)

“Egypt’s health and interior ministries were put on high alert on Friday as the country braced for mass rallies to protest against or support President Mohammed Mursi’s latest decrees that grant him sweeping powers. Political parties and citizens, who deemed Mursi’s new decree as flagrant violation of the constitution, vowed to take on the street in what they called “Eyes of Freedom” one-million protest on Friday.”

Isaiah 19:4 declares prophetically that God will deliver the Egyptian people in the last days into the hands of a harsh master. It is not clear whether this is the antichrist himself or simply a cruel man to oppress the people until the antichrist eventually takes over the ten-toed kingdom. (Revelation 13:1, Revelation 17:12-13, Daniel 2:32-33). Maybe Mursi is that harsh master. Maybe not. Keep watching.

In sum, far from the cease fire settling things and calming them down, the cease fire and Mursi’s behavior has only inflamed it. All is not well in Egypt.

2. Israel

Many people are vehemently upset with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Millions of Israelis thought the decision to cease fire was made too soon. They wanted Israel to dismantle Hamas entirely, conquer Hamas in total and reclaim Gaza. The ceasefire stopped short of that, in fact giving Hamas impetus to think they had won. Netanyahu defended himself publicly and also on his Facebook page, writing:

“I realize that there are citizens who expect a harsher military action and we may very well need to do that. But at present, the right thing for the State of Israel is to exhaust this possibility of reaching a long-term cease-fire. As Prime Minister, I have the responsibility, and it is the highest responsibility, to make the right steps to ensure our security. That is what I have done and it is what I will continue to do.”

One benefit to the cease-fire is that although Netanyahu “has long vowed to safeguard Israel from terrorism, Gaza was never his battle. If the cease-fire holds — a major if — Netanyahu has several weeks to turn domestic and international focus back to his signature security issue: Iran. … A lingering, bloodier war probably would have distracted the international attention Netanyahu has worked to center on Iran’s nuclear program” as the Washington Post reports.

In October, Netanyahu called for early elections. The election will ideally happen in three months’ time, he said, rather than in October 2013, as originally scheduled. They will take place on January 22.

As Dan Ephron writes in The Daily Beast,
“Israel’s prime minister avoided a ground invasion and strengthened his reelection prospects, Hamas won itself some glory, and Israelis and Palestinians ended up right where they started. … By taking on Hamas without launching a ground invasion, the Israeli prime minister managed to drive up his approval rating, a significant political achievement ahead of Israel’s general election on Jan. 22. Along the way, he broke the ice with Egypt’s Islamic government.”

Although the truce hit Netanyahu’s support hard he is still ahead in the polls.

3. Hamas

Dan Ephron sums up his opinion of the post-cease fire fallout on the Hamas side–

“A political outcast since grabbing power in Gaza five years ago, the Islamic group suddenly has champions across the region, including Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar. It also has the dubious glory that, in parts of the Arab world at least, comes with inflicting pain on Israel. So it didn’t down an Israeli plane or hit the parliament building with rockets, as its silly propaganda campaign maintained. But it did force residents of Tel Aviv into bomb shelters and even fired rockets on Jerusalem. “Hamas wanted legitimacy and got it big time,” said Giora Eiland, a retired major-general and Israel’s formal national security adviser.”

The battle is a spiritual one. Whatever is going on is no doubt furthering God’s agenda.

“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath: “It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided.” (Isaiah 14:24)

“for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.” (Acts 4:27-28).

We look to the end, to Isaiah 17, Isaiah 19, Ezekiel 37-38, Zechariah 12 and 14, Matthew 24, and Revelation, among many other books and chapters, and we know that satanic hatred of Israel will only grow, the end will come when they are saying peace and safety, and His purposes are holy and will take place as He wills.

Stay tuned, and keep looking up!

jordan, prophecy, tel aviv, turkey

Middle East war news: Tel Aviv bus bombing, Turkey asks for Patriot Missiles deployment, Jordan unstable

Posted on November 21, 2012May 9, 2016 by elizabethprata

I’ll keep updating this blog entry through the day if situations warrant. Likely they will.

Tel Aviv bus hit by bomb; Hamas celebrates
A bomb exploded on a bus in central Tel Aviv on Wednesday, wounding 15 people in what Israeli officials said was a terrorist attack that could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Celebratory gunfire rang out across Gaza as the news spread and the territory’s Islamist rulers Hamas praised the bombing, but no one claimed immediate responsibility.”

Source JPost

On Twitter, Hillel Fuld wrote, “Putting a bomb on a bus of innocent people. WHO DOES THAT? A person 100% brainwashed and blind to reason. No talking peace with such people.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BNO News reports,

NATO chief says Turkey has requested deployment of alliance’s Patriot air defense missiles
Posted on 11-21 at 15:04:40 CST
[As released by NATO]

“Statement by the NATO Secretary General on Patriot Missile Deployment to Turkey”

“I have received a letter from the Turkish government requesting the deployment of Patriot missiles. Such a deployment would augment Turkey’s air defence capabilities to defend the population and territory of Turkey. It would contribute to the de-escalation of the crisis along NATO’s south-eastern border. And it would be a concrete demonstration of Alliance solidarity and resolve.”

“In its letter, the Turkish government stressed that the deployment will be defensive only, and that it will in no way support a no-fly zone or any offensive operation.”

‘NATO will discuss Turkey’s request without delay. If approved, the deployment would be undertaken in accordance with NATO’s standing air defence plan. It is up to the individual NATO countries that have available Patriots – Germany, the Netherlands and the United States – to decide if they can provide them for deployment in Turkey and for how long. Next week a joint team will visit Turkey to conduct a site-survey for the possible deployment of Patriots.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I reported earlier today that the situation in Jordan is tenuous and getting more unstable by the day. Here is some more news–

Gulf states extend lifeline to Jordan as they seek to contain unrest
“ABU DHABI – Oil-rich Gulf states are mulling ways to help Jordan shore up its fuel supplies after sharp price increases sparked protests against the king, the United Arab Emirates foreign minister said on Monday.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” (Luke 21:23-24)